X-rays revealed the presence of 75 needles inside the body of a 56-year-old Indian. Doctors suspect voluntary ingestion.
Bradilal Meena, a 56-year-old Indian, was far from expecting this. While he felt pain in his foot, he consulted his doctor. The latter sends him to the hospital for an X-ray of the foot, just to check that all is well.
No vital organ affected
But the doctors made a surprising discovery to say the least: they saw several metal needles in the patient’s foot. Worried, they decide to go through everything with a fine-tooth comb and do X-rays of his whole body. It was with great amazement that the doctors detected 75 needles and pins, 40 of which were in her throat, 25 in her right leg and one in each of her arms.
Luckily, no vital organs were touched and the needles were extracted without harm to the patient, says the Daily Mirror. The patient, originally from northern India and employed by a local railway company, is still hospitalized in Mumbai. If M Meena and her family say they do not know how these needles got there, the doctors are doubtful. For the latter, the only plausible explanation remains that the patient has ingested them himself.
Objects spontaneously pass through the digestive tract
This is not the first time that doctors have found unexpected objects in the bodies of their patients. Forks, coins, buttons … the list goes on. Eighty to 90% of ingested objects pass spontaneously through the digestive tract without requiring medical maneuvers to remove them, with surgery only required in less than 1% of cases.
Children are the first to be affected by ingestions of objects. They represent 80% of people who ingest foreign bodies, the most numerous belonging to the age group between 6 months and 3 years. Most often, others affected have psychological retardation, psychiatric illness or alcohol addiction. Prisoners and the elderly are also at risk. But it can also sometimes be simple accident (s).
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